Praise the Lord in Everything

April 14, 2013 “Praise the Lord in Everything” Third Sunday of Easter Revelation 5: 11-14 John 21:1-19 Year C Bad Advice at graduation There is an important event coming up in the lives of many of our young people. At the end of the school year, many people will graduate from kindergarten, fifth grade, eighth grade, high school, college, and even grad school. There will be many ceremonies, and parties. There will be many cards and well wishes. Even in my own family, I have a niece who will be graduating from the eigth grade. At least this year we only have one, three years ago all three girls graduated from something or another. It is at these moments, that we try to give those who are graduating some words of wisdom. One popular word of wisdom that we like to pass down to those younger than us – “These are the best years of your life, enjoy them while you can”. These are the best times of your life, enjoy it while you can. Now that sounds like pretty good advice. But when you think about it what are your really saying? Life only gets worse from here, so you might as well wake up and enjoy it now. Because you have nothing to look forward to. That is not very encouraging to someone who is trying to start a new life. Peter feeling discouraged That must have been how Peter and all of the other disciples felt after Jesus was crucified. That they had just lived the best years of their life, and that there was nothing else to look forward to. They had no idea of what they were supposed to be doing – so they went back to what they had always been doing in life – they went back to catching fish. The Richness of John 21 John 21 is the last chapter in the gospel according to John. It is a very rich chapter if you know the background story. It is believed that John 21 has to be an afterword to the original book. John 20 ends by saying that Jesus performed many miracles that are not recorded in this book so that other may believe. And then John 21 records yet another miracle, and yet another appearance of Jesus. John 21 is the fourth time and final time that Jesus appears just to the disciples. Jesus found them fishing in the sea of Galilee, and that is what they go back to doing. They don’t catch any fish, until jesus tells them to switch their nets to the other side. They catch fish, and return to shore. Jesus has prepared fish and bread for them to eat breakfast. This is an interesting chapter, because it records the whole story of the disciples in a few short minutes. Jesus calls them from being fishers of fish to fishers of men, Jesus feeds them as he feeds the 5000. Peter jumps into the water when he sees Jesus on the shore, just as he jumped into the water in the midst of a storm. When Jesus is taken by the authorities, Peter denies Jesus three times, in John 21 Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him, and peter answers yes three times. Each time Jesus tells Peter that if you love me, then feed my sheep. Jesus ends the conversation by saying to Peter – follow me. Peter gets a second chance Jesus cant complete his lesson to the disciples without giving Peter a second chance. A chance to redeem himself and to prove that he is indeed worthy of being a disciple of Christ. That is the good news of Easter – when the world tells us that the best years of our life are behind us – Jesus comes to give us a second chance and to tell us to follow me. Follow me to a world unknown. The best of who we are and how we live is not behind us, but up ahead. If we have ever failed in our task before – Jesus comes to us where we are in our lives and gives us a second chance. If we have ever denied Christ, he will come and ask us again when we are ready to truly follow him. Thomas Edison gives helper a second chance – Thomas A. Edison was working on a crazy contraption called a "light bulb" and it took a whole team of men 24 straight hours to put just one together. The story goes that when Edison was finished with one light bulb, he gave it to a young boy helper, who nervously carried it up the stairs. Step by step he cautiously watched his hands, obviously frightened of dropping such a priceless piece of work. You've probably guessed what happened by now; the poor young fellow dropped the bulb at the top of the stairs. It took the entire team of men twenty-four more hours to make another bulb. Finally, tired and ready for a break, Edison was ready to have his bulb carried up the stairs. He gave it to the same young boy who dropped the first one. That's true forgiveness. Jesus had spent invested a lot of time into teaching these 12 to carry on his ministry, to give the world his message of love, and he was not about to desert them because of one mistake, no matter how large and how painful it was. The character of the disciples – MEMO TO: Jesus of Nazareth FROM: The Jerusalem Management Consulting Firm Dear Sir: Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for management positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken a series of tests, and we have not only run the results through our computer, but we have also conducted an in-depth interview with each of them by our staff psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant. The profiles of all tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully. It is the staff's opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept and we would highly recommend that you continue your search for persons with more experience, higher qualifications, and greater managerial abilities. Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and is given to fits of temper. Andrew simply has no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interests above company loyalty and are quite boisterous. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale among the ranks. It is also our duty to inform you that the Better Business Bureau of Greater Jerusalem has received reports on Matthew regarding questionable business practices. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus definitely have radical leanings and both demonstrate attitude problems which would present difficulty in their dealings with the public. However, one of your candidates shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, responsible, and is not afraid to takethe initiative. We recommend Judas Iscariot as the most qualified of all of your prospective candidates. Sincerely, The Jerusalem Management Consulting Firm > Jesus called them anyway. He trained them for three years in his way > of thinking and his method of working with people in crowds and one on > one. He instilled in them his philosophy of ministry. He even sent > them out in pairs in a short course of ministry in context, with > moderate success. Then came Jesus’ crucifixion. You could say that it > was their one-question final exam: What are you going to do now? > I guess you could say that their final grade wasn’t all that great. > Most ran away. One denied he had ever taken the course. Another was a > basket case left to Jesus’ mother. The women weren’t much better. And > a couple of people not part of the inner circle had to take care of > the final arrangements. > Three days later, after reports started arriving that Jesus was not in > the tomb, that he had risen, the class met again in a locked room. > Jesus appeared to them and, according to John, breathed on them and > put his peace on them. By the skin of their teeth they had graduated, > even the skeptical one, who came late. > What we have in today’s reading from John is a post-graduate seminar > on the topic, “What Do You Do When the World Has Been Changed?” Or, if > we follow Peter, the main focal point of the reading, then the session > was a job retraining course. Peter’s response was to go back to what > he knew best. Yes, he had experienced the risen Christ. Yes, he knew > what had happened. But still, his world had been torn apart, the world > had been changed, and he and his friends went back to what they knew > best. After all, there is comfort in the familiar. And there they meet > the risen Christ again. Sometimes you just can't escape the changed > world. Peter may be the main actor of the group in the story, but the > seminar topic is for all of them. > Jesus calls the disciples back to the subject matter that he had been > pressing them on for three years. Only now, the context was radically > different. They would be on their own; no supervision from him. Their > support system would be the Holy Spirit and each other. While the > question, “Do you love me?” has special importance for Peter, it is a > question each of the disciples must answer for himself. > This job retraining course, this post-graduate seminar is around what > the topic of servant hood. The last and most poignant lesson that > Jesus gave the twelve was in the upper room when he loved them by > washing their feet. He poured out the final bits of pride, privilege, > and presumption and knelt before each of the disciples Thoughts from Rev. Richard Hayes First Presbyterian Church Waverly OH The good news of Easter is that if Jesus cared that much about Peter and the other disciples, that Jesus also cares that much about you. If he gave Peter a second chance, then he will do the same thing for you. But more importantly – he will do that for the whole world. For all of us. I mentioned the tradition of holy humor Sunday. Usually it is the second Sunday after easter. The greatest joke that god played on the devil, he tricked him into thinking that he had won. That the grave had indeed taken his son. That death, and sin played the final word. And yet Jesus was raised from the dead, he was given a second chance, he gave his disciples a second chance, so that they could give other a second chance. These are not the best days of our life, the best is yet to come. If God played a joke on the devil, some say that God also played a joke on us. and if you have ever been called by God to be a faithful servant, it can certainly feel that way sometime. Easter is the biggest joke of all. Forcing us to believe in the impossible, to celebrate a phenomenon we will never understand, knowing our shortcomings and trusting in us all the same, asking us to give up the life that we know and to follow Jesus into a new life. I In honor of the greatest joke of all, I want to end with the Clown’s Prayer – let the joke be on us, in us, and played in the rest of the world by us….. As I stumble through this life, help me to create more laughter than tears, dispense more cheer than gloom, spread more cheer than despair. Never let me become so indifferent, that I will fail to see the wonders in the eyes of a child, or the twinkle in the eyes of the aged. Never let me forget that my total effort is to cheer people, make them happy, and forget momentarily, all the unpleasantness in their lives. And in my final moment, may I hear You whisper: "When you made My people smile, you made Me smile." -Anonymous- Amen.